Religion News Blog

Articles

Cult leader blames death threats for not showing up in court2011-01-21 15:43:00
It was supposed to be judgment day for Rocco Leo, but the cult leader has chosen to remain a fugitive because of threats made on his life. Leo chose not to attend court yesterday because of death threats - and against the advice of lawyers who have now resigned from the case.More About:Cult
, Death

Hillsong pastor defends ministry against cult claim2009-05-28 14:11:00
Celebrity evangelist Brian Houston has defended his Hillsong
ministry against allegations it is a "cult-like" organisation as the Sydney megachurch opened a "campus" church on Brisbane's southside recently. Houston is interested in expanding further into Europe, where Hillsong already operates in London, Paris, Kiev, Stockholm and Moscow.More About:Cult
, Ministry
, Hillsong Church
, Pastor

Man sees subtle victory in fight against Jehovah?s Witnesses2009-05-26 16:51:00
The father of a girl who died after refusing blood transfusions, on the basis of un-biblical teachings by the Jehovah
's Witnesses
-- continues to battle the cult in court. Some legal scholars observing the case see what could be worrying setbacks for this legally aggressive sect accustomed to mobilizing the courts to block members from receiving life-saving transfusionsMore About:Victory
, Fight
, Quackery

Scientology trial in France set to begin2009-05-23 11:19:00
Despite celebrity followers such as John Travolta, the Church of Scientology
is viewed with suspicion in some countries. Now the organisation faces a legal battle in France
, with a trial starting next week threatening its operations there. [video]More About:Trial

God is back: How Ned Flanders won the evangelical crusade2009-05-07 10:58:00
Virtually everywhere in the developing world fiery preachers are preaching a faith that would appeal to Ned Flanders
: live your life according to God's law, read the Bible as the literal word of Truth, treat your neighbour as yourself. And everywhere they are thriving. In 1900, 80 per cent of the world's Christians lived in Europe and the United States; today, 60 per cent of them live in the developing world.More About:Christianity
, Evangelical
, Back
, Crusade

Islamist Lawyer Threatens to Kill Pakistani Charged with Blasphemy2009-05-07 08:54:00
A Pakistani
Christian charged with abetting blasphemy against Islam was denied bail for his own safety last week after an Islamist
lawyer allegedly threatened his life in a court hearing. Insulting Islam is a dangerous activity in the conservative nation of 170 million, but with the spread of the Taliban, non-Muslims fear their very existence will make them a target to fundamentalists.More About:Lawyer
, Blasphemy
, Kill

Father tells of rescuing kids from New Zealand?s Gloriavale cult2009-04-28 22:49:00
For hundreds of people living in a cut-off community called Gloriavale on the West Coast of New Zealand
's South Island, Neville Cooper speaks the word of God. For his son Phil, Neville Cooper was a controlling, manipulative, sexual deviant who set out to dominate every aspect of his life - from who he could marry to what he named his children. Phil Cooper has told his story in a book, Sins of the Father
, which has been released recently.More About:Kids
, Cult
, Tells

Taliban-Inspired Attacks in Pakistan Hit Christians2009-04-28 16:26:00
As Taliban
control hits pockets of Pakistan
and threatens the nation's stability, Christians
worry their province could be the next to fall under Islamic law. Christians in Taiser town, near Karachi, noticed on the walls of their church graffiti that read, "Long Live the Taliban" and calls for Christians to either convert to Islam or pay the jizye, a poll tax under sharia (Islamic law) paid by non-Muslims for protection if they decline to convert.More About:Hate Groups
, Attacks

After robbery, Muslim-owned shop bans customers wearing veil2009-04-28 16:14:00
A Muslim
-owned jewellery shop has decided to ban customers wearing veils after being targeted by robbers disguised as Islamic women. The family said they accepted the policy may offend some Muslims, but expect other businesses to take a similar approach. Criminals wearing Islamic veils have carried out at least one other robbery in the city.More About:Customers
, Shop
, Owned
, Robbery

North Korean Christians Question Regime?s Claims2009-04-27 15:59:00
Even as the NorthKorean
government this month allowed two high-profile, U.S. Christian bands to perform at a music festival in Pyongyang, the fear of punishment authorities have instilled in North Korean Christians
keeps most of them from publicly revealing their faith. As many as 400,000 Christians are estimated to worship secretly in the country, and Suzanne Scholte, head of an association of some 60 groups campaigning for change in the country called the North Korean Freedom Coalition (NKFC), estimates that more than 200,000 North Koreans are held in political prison camps for various perceived "disloyalties" to the regime, including adherence to Christianity. [video]More About:Question
, Claims

B.C. polygamist leader decries child sex abuse2008-06-09 21:47:00
Winston Blackmore, who openly admits to having numerous wives and dozens of children, said parents at Bountiful protect their children from abuse.But he declined to discuss allegations that older men in his community marry teenaged girls ? a violation of statutory rape laws ? while other girls are sent to sister polygamous groups in the United States to marry older men there.More About:Abuse
, Child
, Leader

Freed from Bountiful: a mother wins a battle2008-06-09 18:03:00
Over the past two weeks in two different countries and in very different circumstances, two sisters regained custody of their children. Those children now face vastly different futures.One set of cousins was returned to their mother after the Texas Supreme Court ruled that the state had improperly seized more than 450 children from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' walled compound in west Texas.They will grow up within in a reclusive, polygamous sect where toys, television and books are banned and where church, not family, comes first.The other cousins have been set free from its strictures. Their mother, Teressa Wall, got full and permanent custody after her estranged husband agreed to a negotiated settlement that was approved by the B.C. Supreme Court.More About:Mother
, Battle
, Wins

Indian school names monkey god chairman2008-06-08 18:49:00
The position comes with an incense-filled office, a desk and a laptop computer. Four chairs will be placed facing the empty seat reserved for the chairman and all visitors must enter the office barefoot, said Vivek Kangdi, the school's vice chairman.More About:Indian
, Monkey
, School
, Hinduism
, Hanuman

Mercy Ministries to close home2008-06-08 18:43:00
Mercy Ministries, the Gloria Jeans and Hillsong-supported religious program under investigation for its controversial use of exorcism to treat mental illness, has announced its Queensland home will close.More About:Home
, Close
, Exorcism
, Mercy

Few willing to break away from FLDS; Those who do testify risk being cut ou2008-06-08 18:34:00
"One of the tenets you learn is that if you leave and you testify against the leaders, you are what they call an apostate and damned to hell," said Elissa Wall, who wrote Stolen Innocence: My Story of Growing up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Break
ing Free of Warren Jeffs."That's one of the biggest things, those mind hurdles. ... You have to get over this mind thing that you're going to hell," said Wall, whose testimony was key in convicting Jeffs last year of being an accomplice to rape for his role in forcing a 14-year-old Wall to marry her 19-year-old cousin.More About:Risk
, Testify

Muslims plan Gaelic translation of Koran2008-06-08 18:21:00
The move drew a frosty response from the main Gaelic church in the Western Isles. Rev Iver Martin, the minister of Stornoway Free Church, said: "I wouldn't have thought there would be much of a market for this. I'm not sure that a lot of Gaelic-speaking people would be inclined to read it. Of course, Muslims
have the freedom to do what they want, but it's worth pointing out that in many Muslim countries, Christians do not have the freedom to freely read the Bible."More About:Islam
, Scotland
, Koran
, Quran

?Rabbi? Elior Chen arrested in Brazil2008-06-05 22:54:00
Chen, 29, and his followers are suspected of severely abusing two children, ages three and four, who were beaten with hammers, knives and other implements for months, until the younger child lost consciousness in March.More About:Arrested
, Brazil
, Chen
, Rabbi

There?s only a little sign of life at the sect ranch2008-06-05 21:47:00
Although Jessop's family has returned, most of the others are staying away from the ranch for the time being. An FLDS spokesman said bad memories of the state's April 3 raid are keeping them in temporary homes around Texas where they had relocated to be close to their children.More About:Life
, Sign
, Ranch

Sheriff: Sect members will be charged2008-06-05 03:25:00
"I believe when all of the criminal charges come forward it is going to be very hard to practice their beliefs within the state of Texas," Doran said. "I believe there are numerous criminal investigations going, and a number of charges will eventually come out of those investigations."More About:Sheriff
, Members